Millions of living Americans are serving, or have served, the nation in the armed services. Indeed, so many Americans have passed through military service that the Department of Defense (DoD) and individual branches of the armed forces has developed more than 60 separate clinical information systems since 1980 in an effort to keep track. These 60 disparate systems, while useful, resulted in an even greater diffusion of medical information, which became more difficult to access with each passing year. Therefore, the DoD was faced with the need for a “system of systems”—a comprehensive methodology that could meet the needs of the military not only in a hospital setting, but also in battlefield conditions. The solution was CHCS II-T. At full deployment, CHCS II-T will allow a physician, nurse practitioner or any other provider to get a patient's complete medical information right at the point of service, facilitating the delivery of care to active duty personnel, retirees and beneficiaries. CHCS II-T will ultimately be deployed on a mobile platform so frontline medical personnel can use the technology even under battlefield conditions.
Information technology initiatives, including CHCS II-T and the Preventive Health Care Application, are moving toward a complete computerized patient record that will capture and retain all health care information, improve the delivery of preventive services and health care, and enhance our understanding of the health status and needs of service members and their families. For the deployed military member, these systems will be able to share information with the PIC technology. The PIC is a wearable electronic tag that stores an individual's medical status and history, vaccination records and other essential information that will interface with CHCS II-T and other existing medical tracking systems in use in theater of operation. The PIC will be carried by Service members during deployment and updated by medical personnel using portable computers whenever the Service member is examined or treated. PIC information will be transmitted to consolidated databases to ensure that medical information is not lost if the PIC is lost or damaged.
The use of PIC tags, cards, armbands, and other information sources provides notice of unique medical conditions. In each instance, however, the individual must make the effort to maintain this information in a pocket or on his person. U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,693 discloses a device and method for applying and retaining a data carrier to a tooth surface of an individual. The data carrier has a thin sheet of material having a data format unique to the individual. This data carrier is attached to the surface of the individual's tooth and is adapted for detection by a reader which can be operated by a third person. The system further comprises a central data bank which becomes a verification source for identifying information carried at the individual's tooth surface.
In a parallel trend, certain high level members of the government, police, and military members engage in high risk jobs and need protection from gunshots and explosions. Conventional approaches include bullet-proof glass, concrete and steel building structures, armored cars, bullet-proof jackets, and others. The particular avenue taken depends on whether the person is stationary, located in a vehicle, located within a building, or is required to maintain mobility outside the confines of any specific stationary structure. U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,558 discloses the use of an air bag which is rapidly inflated and interposed between the projectile or concussive force and the person to be protected so as to either deflect the projectile or reduce the effects of the concussive force.